The Breaking Point
by TheJester33
Summary: [Spec Ops:The line] Colonel John Konrad, willingly volunteered himself and the Damned 33rd Battalion after Dubai is hit with a series of the most devastating sandstorms ever recorded . Follow Konrad and the Damned 33rd as they plunge into darkness, using inhumane, horrific and brutal acts to keep order in a city ravaged by chaos and war.
1. Chapter 1

The goddamn sand, it never seemed to stop blowing. He could feel it whip across his bare skin, after all these months here, he thought his skin would toughen, that he'd stop feeling the sand sting against his bare skin. But the feeling only ever seemed to worsen, it felt like it was ripping his skin from his body, peeling off every inch from the muscle below it, he shouldn't complain though, he was lucky. The civilians, all they had was thin pieces of clothing protecting them from the harshest sandstorms to ever hit Dubai, to ever hit the world.

After the sandstorms ravaged Dubai, he volunteered him and his entire battalion to help in any way him and the Damned 33rd could. When he arrived, everything was in chaos, Dubai's wealthiest and most influential fled the city in secret, those damn cowards, leaving an entire city full of helpless innocents to fend for themselves. After weeks of a fruitless effort, they were ordered to leave the city immediately, Konrad dismissed the orders, forcing him and his entire battalion to be branded with treason and deserters.

The storms never let up, they only got worse, every couple days, a ravaging sandstorm would blow through, tearing up everything in it's path, every time the storm would pass, more dead would turn up. They had so way to bury them, they tried digging in the sand for graves, but the holes would always fill back up, or the wind would blow the sand off of the bodies. They had given up trying to do anything respectable, instead opting for mass graves, or piling up the bodies to burn. A storm wall engulfed Dubai, cutting off any further contact with the outside world, except for the strongest signals, but even then that was spotty. The civilians were getting restless, starting riots over the 80mph winds and dwindling resources, they did the only thing they could... they declared marshal law. This was no way to live, Konrad ordered a mass evacuation to attempt to escape the city, and that's how here, leading a caravan of soldiers and civilians alike to try to escape this hell of a city.

Every couple of minutes, he'd get word of soldiers and civilians alike dying, from dehydration or heat stroke. They were losing people, but that didn't matter, as long as a majority made it, this evacuation would be a success.

"Colonel! Were half-way to city limits of Dubai," A solider yelled through the howling winds

"Good...good. Major, tell your men of the progress and have them spread the word"

"Understood Colonel," He did a quick salute while jogging to alert the others.

Konrad sighed, they'd been walking for over an hour without stop and most people have barely had anything to eat or drink due to rationing. Soon enough, they'd be able to call for an extraction out of this godforsaken city. He gave a small smile at thinking about leaving this place, returning to his home and family. That small was wiped off his face as quick as it appeared.

"Fucking shit! A massive sandstorm is coming this way, jesus we are so fucked!" A soldier yelled somewhere behind him.

'Get a hold of yourself soldier, we've survived this long, a mere sandstorm is not going to be the end of us, do I make my self clear!" Konrad barked in the face of the solider. The soldier didn't seem to hear him, or didn't care. He was mumbling to every god imaginable to get him out of here alive. The major dashed up next to Konrad.

"Sir, the storm is coming too fast, there's no way we'd be able to make it to the city limits before the storm rips us to shreds."

Konrad said nothing, mulling over his options, hoping there was at least a miniscule chance that this evacuation could still be salvaged. They're stuck out in the open on an abandoned highway, cars littering the street, all trying to escape the sand storms, most people trying to escape never made it out of the city. Dying helplessly in their cars as they tried to escape. Going forward was not an option, they'd die before they even made it most the way to limits. To the sides were barren wasteland, at one point maybe a small market, or something of the sorts, but that was destroyed in the sandstorms, now all that remained was a barren wasteland and bones of those unfortunate enough to be caught out in the storm. The only way was back to city, buried alive under wave upon wave of sandstorms.

"Major, we'll retreat back into the city. I want us to take shelter in the first available building there is, understood?" He groaned, there was going to be hell to pay for this. All these resources and lives lost on a failed evacuation attempt, only hell would follow this.

"Understood sir," The Major sighed. He began heading back before stopping. "Colonel, with all due respect, this has gone to shit. What are we going to due now?"

The colonel didn't respond, instead heading walking back towards the city while the major told of the new orders.

The trek back was silent, no one dared speak a word until fate had decided what to do with the poor souls. The sandstorm was closing in fast, but they were quickly approaching a rundown building, it should be enough to hold them till the storm blows over.

"Everyone double time it in to the building, we barely have a couple minutes until that storm hits," Konrad yelled over the growing sound of the storm. He vaguely heard the his orders being translated into Farsi, but paid no mind to it. He looked to the building directly ahead of his, his men were already kicking down the doors to the building. Konrad entered the building, looking around, it appeared to have been some offices, but that didn't matter, as long as it held against the storm, it'd do just fine.

A Lieutenant jogged up next to him, as a swarm of civilians rushed in. "Sir" he gasped for air, "the storm is seconds away, but there's still civilians out there."

"Close the doors immediately and barricade them with whatever you have," He said without a moments hesitation.

"But sir the-"

"You will do as I say, those people will not jeopardize the safety of the rest of us. You will close those doors now and you will barricade them as best as you can, am I clear _lieutenant_?" Konrad emphasized his ranking, as if to remind of him that he had no choice is this matter.

The lieutenant hesitated a moment before mumbling a "Crystal sir" and heading off to the rest of the soldiers to barricade the doors.

"_I didn't have a choice, I have to protect these people at all costs, even if it means sacrificing a a few save a majority," _Konrad keep repeating this in his head as the screams of people being left outside echoed throughout the room. Every pound of a fist from the outside, every cry of a woman or child as their lungs were filled with sand and the storm flayed there skins resonated throughout the room. When the storm was done, most of the bodies would be gone, buried under the sand to be forgotten, to never be seen. A man ran towards the door, only to be roughly shoved back by one of the soldiers.

"My family is still out there! You have to open the doors, please they can't die out there. I have children out there!" The man screamed and begged for the doors to be opened. Konrad regarded him with cold eyes.

"Those doors will not open until the storm is passed, Even if we did, and your family wasn't dead the amount of sand they've inhaled would be sure to kill them if there wounds don't." Konrad stated coldly.

The man stayed on the ground sobbing before throwing a wild punch at on of the soldiers and attempting to rip away the barricade. A soldier attempted to grab him but the man hit him across the face with a plank of wood pulled for the barricade. He continued to beat the soldiers head to a pulp, warm blood gushing down his face and onto the floor.

"Please stop! Oh god please stop!" The soldier pleaded between hits. A shot reverberated off the wall as man was shot multiple times. Blood and brain matter splattering onto the window behind him as he fell backwards, crashing into the makeshift barricade. The soldier continued to cry ad blood and tears poured down his face. A soldier quickly keeled next him and held his head in his arms.

"Fucking christ Jackson! What the hell are you people waiting for, wheres the medic?" He screamed

A medic crouched next to him and put a hand on his shoulder "Damien, there's nothing we can do, his injuries are too far beyond what medical supplies we have. We can't do anything for him."

Damien tried to form words, but nothing came out, he let out and yell and walked over to the bullet riddled body of the man who beat Jackson. He paced around the body before giving it a few hard kicks.

"Hey, don't desecrate his body you animal!" Someone called out from the crowd of bystanders.

"You shut your mouth!" Damien yelled back before asking the medic what they could do for Jackson.

"We can't do anything, like I said we don't have the medical equipment for this. We can either give him what little morphine we have or we can..." the medic thought about his next words "um.. .give him some mercy.."

"End his life? Put him down like a dog?!" Damien gave another rough kick to the body, "no no no, were going with the morphine."

"No, were not using the morphine on a lost cause," Konrad finally spoke up.

"A lost cause colonel? A lost fucking cause!" Damien gave a hollow laugh, "This is one of our own men were talking about here!"

"I understand that soldier, but the morphine needs to be conserved for a life we might be able to save, we don't have enough to be using for a dying man.. We'll put him down, that's an order"

"Oh I get it, in case one of these savages is injured then it'd be okay to use some morphine, because were supposed to be the relief, the good guys. If one of our guys is injured though, we don't get relief we get put down, like an animal, Real fucking great!" Damien continued his thoughts, not caring what he said.

Konrad pulled out his pistol and shot the dying man on the ground once in the head. Konrad had to keep order, he had to show that he was the man in power here. If order was lost, then so was Dubai and it's inhabitants.

"You listen to me soldiers, if I give a goddamn order, you will follow that order. I am trying to keep order here, I am trying to last as long as possible until help comes!" Konrad screamed in his face. Damien was too stunned by what just happened. He shot his own soldier, killed one of his own!

"Help colonel? Order colonel? We lost all fucking order, this entire city is in chaos and you still think help is coming? Were dead men, there not coming to save us! Were traitors, we committed treason, were a group of exiles that America wants to disown! We are fucked colonel! Dubai is our grave site!" Damien yelled. He walked off, not caring where he went, as long as it wasn't here. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. No one spoke, the screams had stopped, now the only sound was the howl of the wind.

"Someone bring me a radio, now!" Konrad shouted. A man brought over a high powered radio and put it down next to the colonel.

"The radio's almost dead and we have no way to recharge it, so your message will have to be quick. When the storms over, me and a couple other should be able to build a simple broadcasting tower to get your message out."

Konrad nodded before rising the microphone to speak through it. "This is Colonel John Konrad, United States Army. Attempted evacuation of Dubai ended in complete failure. Death toll: too many."

* * *

**A/N: Wow it's been forever since I've actually uploaded anything. My other story is on indefinite hiatus, I've lost inspiration and the urge to write for that for now. However, I'll try to return to it as soon as I can. Anyway back to the story at hand. I was replaying Spec Ops" The Line (fantastic game) and I got the urge to write about what transpired before Walker and his men entered Dubai. Focusing a lot on Konrad and how he handles the ultimately tough and brutal decisions he is forced to make and I'll probably through in some other POV's also, such as some of the Damned 33rd or the CIA. I'm excited to be writing this and hope it goes well. Any criticism would be welcomed, as long as it's not just "Story sucks monkey ass". So leave a review...or not, that's cool too...**


	2. Chapter 2

The storm ended a couple hours later, but almost everyone was passed out from exhaustion. Konrad decided to let them rest, they'd need the energy for heading back into Dubai. They couldn't make another attempt to leave, they counted how many were missing...1.300 men, women and children died, because of his ignorance. He should have known, this city of death wasn't going to let them walk away so easily, no it just had to add even to his death toll. What he was forced to do, to keep order in this city, it was just a lie. A lie he told himself to make him feel better, so he could believe that all those lives were lost for a cause, to keep this city safe, but that was never the truth.

He'd been such a decorated veteran, in Afghanistan, people called him a savior...a hero, so much that he himself started to believe it. Until that one mission, his final mission, that made his world crash down around him. Konrad rose up from the chair and paced around the quiet room. The first mission he ever failed, for some reason he just couldn't accept the idea of failure, it was such a foreign idea, that when it actually happened, he didn't know how to handle it. Konrad thought he need redemption for his actions, so he volunteered his entire battalion to aid Dubai, all because he wanted to feel like a hero.

Konrad gave a mirthless laugh, "All those soldiers, who had family and loved ones back home, waiting for them to return. Denied because I wanted redemption for something so meaningless, because I couldn't handle defeat, now most of those soldiers will never see their families, because I had to go to the extremes to prove I was a hero. What a pathetic excuse for the things I've committed." He whispered to himself. He trudged over to the nearest chair and sat down, leaning against the back. Weariness taking the best of him as his eye lids pulled down, before drifting off to restless sleep.

* * *

_4 months ago_

_Captain William Hughes_

"Captain, the locals, they're taking up arms again, they want us dead," A solider ran into the makeshift outpost the 33rd has been using recently.

"Have they give a reason why?"

"They're tired of our occupation here, they want us gone, saying we've done nothing to help them, only worsen their lives,"

"Get my Colonel Konrad on the radios, now!" The captain barked. He grabbed the radio and explained their situation to the colonel.

"Well now captain, it seems we have quite the issue on our hands. I want you to try and resolve this peacefully, but if not.." Will heard a sigh over the radio, " captain, I want you to keep this under control, we want order in this city so nothing will get out of hand. If they refuse to listen to reason, I want you to make an example out of them. We cannot protect this city if it falls into chaos, am I understood?"

_"Make an example out of them, what the hell does that mean? Were supposing to be protecting them, not slaughtering them!" _Will thought to himself.

"Captain, would you rather I send in Zulu squad, or will you take care of our problem?"

"I...I can handle this sir"

"Good, good, you know your one of my most trusted men, I expect you'll do fine." The radio clicked off as William took a look as his surroundings. It was hastily put together, thin sheets of metal, wood or what ever they could find that'd hold up against the storms. It was a death trap, the metal was almost completely rusted and the wood was rotted, any second this would collapse. A couple radios littered the tables, with soldiers frantically communicating back and forth. The past few days, the locals had started a couple riots or starting small fights with American soldiers. They wanted help, and we've given them nothing, the fighting is only going to escalate until it's a full out war in Dubai. He looked over to a man smoking in the corner.

"Sergeant Hicks, get your squad ready, were moving out in 5. Were going to take care of another group of locals," Hicks vaguely nodded in his direction before stomping out his cigarette and walking outside to gather his men. Williams followed suit, stepping out of the outpost into the blinding sun. He raised his hand over his eyes as he walked over to Hick's squad. He took in the scenery as he trudged through the sand to the soldiers. It was oddly serene, sure Dubai was a hell hole, but it had a small touch of calm to it, though that would be gone soon enough.

"Ay Captain, you gonna tell us what we're supposed to be doing? One of the soldiers questioned.

"Well, a group of locals has started gathering a decent amount of weapons and it seems they might be panning to use em. Were supposed to try peaceful solution first, but if that doesn't work we... we make an example out of them,"He sighed, if they started killing civilians, then what was their purpose here, they're supposed to be helping these people. These people may have started to revolt but they had good reason. The 33rd was supposed to be giving relief and aid to the city, but we haven't done jack shit. Things only got worse when the colonel declared marshal law in an attempt to keep 'order'. If you believe what people say about Zulu Company, the elite of the 33rd, cold and ruthless. Reports of civilians slaughtered for even a slight inconvenience, most likely done by Zulu, ruthless bastards they are.

"I saw we just kill em' soon as we see them. Were tryin to help them but they don't want it. So I say we just execute soon as we get there," another solider spoke up.

"You do what I say private, and we are going to be following colonels orders, understood?" The private glared at him a bit before reluctantly nodding.

"Good, lets head out and take care of this as soon as we can, I don't want to be caught in the middle of a storm,"

They trudged through the sand for what felt like hours, the skyscrapers surrounded them, broken and worn down by the constant storms, their supports twisted and glass shattered. Sometimes Williams wondered how life used to be here before the storms, a couple months ago he could have had his questions answered, but now, he doubted Dubai would ever flourish to what it once was. The death surrounding this city would probably ward off people from ever trying to reclaim to civilization. If Dubai ever did become an actual city instead of a no man's land, he'd be long dead by then. They were almost at the building where the refugees should be, hopefully they could end this peacefully, but tensions were thin on both sides, fighting between sides wasn't uncommon, even the occasional death now, the peace wouldn't last. The squad was a couple yards from the building now, they lined up on the door ready to breach.

Williams spoke up,"Remember squad, these refugees are most likely armed and pissed. We want to try to peacefully negotiate but if they don't, we take them down,"

Staff Sergeant Matthews, blew the locks up with his shotgun, they quietly moved in, checking their corners and surroundings for anything suspicious. There was nothing out of the ordinary so far a few desks and chairs were scattered around the room, a thin layer of sand cover the ruined floor. They slowly moved forward constantly checking behind them. Still no one, but there was a smell in the air, faint but definitely there.

"Does anyone else smell that?" Williams whispered

"What the hell you talking bout?" Someone behind responded

"I smell it too captain, Conner, you forget to shower again?" A man quipped behind him

"Oh hardy har har, great one ass wipe," Connors replied

"Shut your mouths, and stay focused, the smells gettin stronger, were almost tot he source," Williams muttered

The smell, keep getting stronger and stronger, it smelled like...rotting meat. The source had to be right around the corner, the smell was so pungent he wanted to vomit. He turned around the corner, and stopped dead in his tracks.

* * *

_Damned 33rd HQ_

_Colonel John Konrad_

He had just been told what Captain Hughes had discovered, it made him sick. Here he was trying to help these people, they've done nothing harmful to them and then those goddamn locals do that! He knew that most innocents in Dubai minded their own business, but those responsible would be shown no mercy.

Konrad picked up the nearest radio to communicate with the captain, "sergeant, tell your captain that orders have changed, you are no longer to attempt to resolve this peacefully. If they are going to sue force than so are we, when you find those men, I want you to keep at least one or more alive and publicly execute them. We must show them that we are in charge. Report back to HQ as soon as your finished, tell your captain to meet with me as soon as he arrives, that will be all." He sat down in the nearest open chair and contemplated his next course of action. Peace was out of the way, the tension had finally snapped, a war for Dubai had begun.

* * *

_Captain William Hughes_

In front of him were at least a dozen US soldiers, lined up, backs facing the wall. Their brains and vast amounts of blood covered the wall behind them. Some bodies face down in the sand, giant holes gaping out of the back of their heads, others slumped back against the wall. Painted onto the wall across from them was a group of children, staring at their lifeless bodies. At one point the paintings had eyes... but it looked like the eyes were scratched out from the drawing, as if they couldn't stand what they'd seen.

"Yo captain, why'd you st-...fucking christ! What the hell happened here!"

"Why are their dead Americans? Did they god rouge?

Matthews spoke up from behind the crowd, "No.. I-I knew those men, they were good guys, one of them had a family waiting from him back home,"

"Matthews, radio Konrad, tell him what we found," Williams ordered the the men to drag the bodies to look a little more respectable.

"Captain, colonel wants us to abandon current orders and execute anyone we deem a threat,"

Williams pulled a hand down over his face...fuck fuck fuck. How the hell were they even going to find the men who did this? They could be long gone by now, he was drawing blanks, he had no idea what to.

"Hey captain, come here I found a '_threat_'," Conner's voice came from outside, he heard screaming and shouting from the same direction. Williams dashed outside with the rest of his men to see Conner and two other soldiers shoving two civilians outside, a boy and a girl, no older than than late teens/early twenties. They threw the teens on the ground and pulled out their pistols. A large group of refugees were screaming at the Americans at the top of their lungs from the shelters, watching the scene unfold in front of them.

"Conner, what the hell do you think your doing?"

"American soldiers were executed in cold blood for no god damn reason!" He yelled ,"And you're not willing to do anything because you don't know who the killers are, but you know what, FUCK YOU captain. These people are all in it together, and the only way to have order like Colonel wants is to show our power." He raised his pistol towards the back of the girls head. Williams rose his rifle and aimed at Conner. The boy and the girl had tears and snot running down their face, screaming before one of the soldiers who took Conner's side nailed them across the face with his rifle.

"Put he pistol down Conner, we are not involving innocents in this!"

"So you wouldn't kill people who killed Americans, but you'll kill your own fucking brother-in-arms! This city has just turned to shit!" Without a second thought, Conner fired the pistol, killing the girl instantly. Her body falling forward, blood pouring out into the sand from the hole in her head. Conner moved the pistol towards the boy when a sharp pain enveloped his left shoulder, regardless he fired his second shot. The bullet hitting the boy in the back of the neck, he fell to the side, gurgling as blood gushed out his throat. Another burst of bullets flew from Williams bullet to Conner's chest, one piercing his heart.

What the fuck have I done?! The realization that William had killed a squad mate, drilled deep into his skull. HE was snapped out of his revere as the crack of a sniper pierced the air. The sound of a head cracking filled his ears and turned to see Matthews on the ground, his skull annihilated. He tried to look for any trace of the sniper, but he couldn't see a damn thing.

"Retreat back into the building!" He ordered. They all dashed back into the building, another crack as one of Conner's soldiers had a bullet burst out of his chest. They all made it in except for the last of Conner's men. He halfway there until a bullet tore through his leg, he screamed as he collapsed to the ground.

"Hendrix is still out there! We can't just leave him!"

That sniper will shot you dead the moment you step out that door, you will stay here private!" William bellowed, but to no avail. The private dash out, not even making it a yard until another shot of a sniper sounded and the sound of bullet hitting flesh echoed throughout the room. Hendrix was still screaming, but they had to leave him, they had no choice, they had no chance out there, William ordered his men to retreat to HQ, much to the anger of others, but followed regardless.

_"My fucking leg! Jesus it hurts to bad!" _Hendrix tried to crawl but a a bullet landing a few inches in front of him halted his progress. He heard foot steps coming his way, and rolled to see a few refugees with assault rifles walking towards him. They were speaking in Farsi, he couldn't understand a damn word. One of the men looked at him before stomping on his face with the sole of his boot, knocking him out cold, before they started dragging him away, leaving only a pool of blood in his place.

* * *

**A/N- Now begins the fall of Dubai, I'll be switching a bit between present day Konrad and how he handles everything he's done and the failed evacuation and flashbacks of sorts of taking on many different people and what they did/how they handle Dubai. As always criticism is welcomed, so please leave a review so i can constantly improve my stories.**


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